, one of the few who have been able to unite attention to business,
, one of the few who have
been able to unite attention to business, with the love and
cultivation of letters, was born at Paris in 1630, and bred
to the law, but always in strict intimacy with Boileau,
Bignon, Lamoignon, and the other great men of his time.
He was first counsellor of the Châtelet, then in the parliament, afterwards president of the fourth chamber of requests, and next Prévôt des Marchands. To this place he
was nominated in 1668, and signalized his situation there
by building a quay at Paris, which still retains his name.
Being much approved in this office, be was appointed in
1683 to succeed the famous Colbert in that of controllergeneral of the finances. He held this place only six years,
after which he resigned it, and in 1697 retired from court
entirely, to lead a life of meditation and devotion. He
died in August 1711, at the age of eighty-one. Though
the life of Pelletier was so much occupied by business, he
either produced or was concerned in several publications.
1. Extracts and Collections from the fathers, the ecclesiastical writers, and from scripture, made with great judgment, in several volumes, 12mo. 2. Editions of the “Comes
Theologus,
” and “Comes Juridicus,
” of Peter Pithou, who
was his maternal great grandfather. 3. “Comes Senectutis,
”
and 4. “Comes Rusticus,
” both in 12mo, and written in
imitation of the former works of Pithou, consist chiefly of
the thoughts of various authors. 5. The best edition of the
Body of Canon Law, in Latin, with the notes of Peter and
Francis Pithou, in 2 vols, fol. 6. An edition of the Observations of Peter Pithou on the Code and on the Novellae.